JESSE TREE DAY 1

Background with Stump

December is finally here!  Now we officially begin doing something we have already been doing... WAITING!!  An even better word might be anticipating, or waiting with expectation.  

What are we waiting for?  Not just for presents and decorations and cookies!  We are now in a season called Advent, and it comes from the Latin word meaning "coming." It is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Why do we spend a whole month waiting and preparing to celebrate the birth of a baby?  This particular baby is SO important that Scripture has been pointing us toward His coming since the beginning of creation!  We will be learning about why He is so important over the next few weeks.

Our first passage comes from the book of Isaiah.  As we read it, see if you can figure out why we use a tree trunk and branches as the background for our ornaments:

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, 

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, 

The spirit of wisdom and understanding, 

The spirit of counsel and strength, 

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, 

And He will not judge by what His eyes see, 

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; (Isaiah 11:1-3 NASB)

Our property was clear cut for timber several years before we bought it.  The timber crew left fields of stumps remaining, where large hardwood trees once stood.  Gazing at these fields, you would have felt a sense of emptiness and gotten a picture of what the words “barren” and “desolation” mean.

 In our back yard, we now have a few decent sized oak trees.  Each one of these trees is growing out of an old stump, where it was once thought that all was lost and dead.  If these trees continue to grow, they will be strong, towering hardwoods.  There is life where all was thought to be lost and dead.

In the passage we read, Isaiah was writing about a time when people might have thought all was lost for Israel.  God had judged them and allowed them to be desolated by neighboring countries, just like a field that had been cut for timber.  The line of kings from David was no more.  

Question: The Bible says that a shoot will spring from the stem of whom?  (Jesse)

Question: Can anyone remember who Jesse was in the Bible? (father of King David) 

The Bible uses the name Jesse instead of David (who we might remember better) to let people know that it is not just another king in the line of David for whom we are looking; instead, a David-like king is coming.    

Interestingly, the bible doesn't JUST say this promised King will be the shoot of Jesse... It also says He will be the root of Jesse.  How can a King be the root of Jesse (that is, come before him) AND the shoot of Jesse (that is, come after him)?  It is Christ, the promised Messiah!

All was NOT lost for Israel.  God would send us a King.  Not the kind of king that the Israelites expected, but the King who would bring life to barren and desolate people.  God would send a faithful King, able to fulfill all that the Father had sent him to do. It is the celebration of this special King's birth that we anticipate!

This Advent season we will be decorating our Jesse tree with ornaments that will show us how God keeps His promises, and how the Bible points us to the coming of His Son Jesus.  As we prepare our hearts and wait with expectation, let's seek the Lord together and ask Him to show us just how much we need a Savior.

And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10 NKJV)

This year the boys played another season of baseball for East Union's little league.  Josh played coach pitch, and he was coached by Scott and Coach McClellan (EU XC coach).  

His first game was somewhat of a disappointment.  He struck out all three times he came up to bat!  After the game, Scott stayed to pitch to him.  When our left-handed child walked up to bat as a left-hander (last season batted right-handed), he started smacking them into the outfield every time!  Something had happened over the last year, and now Josh was a left-handed power hitter!  

 Their team had a super successful season!  They ended up winning the county tournament and getting 1st place for the league!  Way to go L&W Fabricators, and thanks to Papa for sponsoring the team!

 Will played his second year of kid-pitch.  This year he was with a great group of boys, and he was coached by Coach Basil (EU baseball coach).  I was a little nervous about this, because last year was Will's first year to play, and Coach Basil can be a little intense.  Thankfully, this was the best thing that could have happened to him... Coach Basil is an excellent teacher, and he spent a great deal of time actually teaching fundamental things, rather than just expecting them to know what was going on.  

This year he moved up from right field to center field, and he did a great job of backing up the second baseman when people were stealing.

 Last year he got two hits all season.  This year was SO MUCH BETTER!  He got at least one hit, sometimes two or three, every game!

 His team ended up winning the county league tournament and getting second place in their league!  Way to go Power Equipment!

Below:  Will with Coach Basil and with his tournament and league trophies!  

 The county tournament championship games were on the same night at different places.  I was with Will, since Scott was coaching Josh, and Kay was in town and went with Scott and Josh!  Afterwards we all met up at George's for burgers and shakes.  Here's Scott with his two baseball players!

Pinewood Derby!

This spring the boys participated in the Pinewood Derby with their scout troop.  The troop leaders borrowed a track, and the boys got to have sort of an inner-squad competition.  

Will's derby creation, The LUCKY CHIPPER, was very creative... but not so fast.  The car looked like a chewed off log, and he sculpted a little beaver (complete with goggles and helmet) to place in the driver's seat.

Josh's derby creation was a bit lacking in creativity, but it made up for it in speed.  His car was one of the finalists!

Spring Violin Recitals

Goats... in the van!

This winter we had some subtractions and additions to our farm family.  Luke Skywalker (above) was a good dog.  He kept coyotes away, restrained himself from sucking eggs, and let the kids put clothes on him.   Sadly, he got too interested in the highway and was hit by a vehicle.  

Sarah and Josh were devastated.  We buried him up by the shop, and Josh and Sarah decorated his grave with a wooden cross and a necklace with his name on it made from alphabet beads.  

Just a FEW days before, we got goats!!!  That in itself was an adventure... involving a trip to the boonies, buying goats from a shady situation, and then transporting the goats home in our VAN!!!  

 

The goats are Sarah's big adventure.  She used all of her birthday money to buy them, does all of the goat chores, etc.  The goal is milk, so she traded the little brown and white buck to the Blassingames in exchange for a Nubian baby doe named Buttercup.  

Unfortunately, Buttercup had been sick and the stress and change was just too much for her.  She died the day after Luke was killed.  Bless her heart, Sarah was so sad.  We buried Buttercup next to Luke.  

The Blassingames were kind to give us Bucky back, and so we were back to our original 3, van transported goats.  At this point our fence was not finished, and the goats spent most of their time knocking on the back door or napping on the patio!

When you have chickens and goats, you can't go very long without a dog.  Although we had Frizzy, she was busy getting pampered and spending a great deal of time in the house... (She was present for Luke's accident, and we found her shaking in the bushes across the road about 6 hours later.)  

We decided on a Great Pyrenees to take Luke's place.  Meet Chewy, short for Chewbacca.  (Staying with Star Wars theme.)  Josh was thrilled!  Chewy was small enough to stand under Frizzy's belly!  It is hard to remember him being so small... 

He just kept growing... and growing... and growing.... 

And now he is a GIANT!!  You could fit two Frizzys under him!  

It wasn't long before the goats began to get in our garden, eat my flowers, and even climb on the vehicles!!  It was a good thing that Scott got the fence built over spring break!  

Spring 2012

This spring has been busy.  Although I turned in my resignation to BMC, I have continued to coach the team until a replacement is found.  I thought that I would be through by March, so of course I took on responsibilities... and now the spring has been spent doing more rather than less.  

In addition, we have spent a lot of time at therapy for Will's arm.  He can now straighten it out all the way, but he is still working on touching his thumb to his shoulder... something we take for granted!  

Here are the brief highlights of the last few months:  

My friend, Kenneth Wiliams invited me to the RRCA coaching convention in Memphis.  We got to have lunch and listen to Chris McDougall, author of Born To Run.  

The Spartans got to participate in a track meet at Briarcrest High School in memphis.  Sarah and Olivia are sitting on the infield...

 Sarah is below on the far left, finishing the mile.  She ran a 6:34 mile as a 6th grader!  Hannah convinced me to let her be a "spartan fan," because she was worried about not being competitive enough.

Here is Chewy, our new dog.  He has grown so much since we got him, and he is officially a coyote killer!

This year we got to attend the annual Easter egg hunt at the Johnsons' home.

 They had a special guest from Zimbabwe, and he also enjoyed the afternoon.  He wanted a picture with all of the children after the egg hunt, so everyone gathered on the back porch.

 Here I am with Roan and Esther...  we were discussing our upcoming Disney marathon trip in January!

Amanda Price 5K

Very, very late on December 5, 2011, I was awakened by the phone ringing.  I stumbled around, fumbled for the phone, and answered... I must have been halfway asleep, because I remember Coach Basil saying, "Heather wake up!  You have to listen to me.  This is bad- I have some bad news for Scott."  

He went on to tell me that our friend, Amanda Price had been shot and killed.  Her husband, Ron (the NAHS football coach with whom Scott had coached for 3 years) had also been shot and was in the Tupelo ER.  I woke Scott up and gave him the news.  We quickly got dressed and went to Tupelo.  

Ron was going to be ok, but he hadn't been told about Amanda.  After a while, the football coaches went in to talk to him.  Even in the midst of incredible tragedy, he handled it as a believer.  The next few weeks were full of sadness and questions. 

After a lengthy investigation, the killer was caught.  Amanda just happened to be walking the dog at the wrong time.  The criminal was about to break into the house, and Amanda startled him.  

Amanda Price was one of THE kindest, sweetest, servants that I have had the privilege to know.  She was a supportive, loving wife.  She made me feel included within the coaches' wives, and she was always quick to offer encouragement and kind words to others.  I did not get to spend much time with her, but I will miss her.  We all will.  

I was not the only one who was impacted by Amanda's life and example.  Most of New Albany, MS knew her and came to show their sympathy to the Price and Cossey families.  

One group of New Albany runners decided to express their sympathies by organizing a 5K race to benefit Survivor, Inc, a local group who offers support and counseling to families of victims of violent crime.  The race was held March 10, 2012, and it turned out to be one of the largest 5K's in MS in it's first year!  Over $20,000 was given to Survivor, Inc!  

 The race began with a balloon launch... Purple balloons filled the sky.  It was an absolutely perfect morning for a race!  I was proud to have a great showing of both Spartans and Toppers for the day!

 Austin Epting and Kelsea Hendrix were the first male and female finishers... Go BMC!

 Kelsea, Austin, Brian McDonnieal, Zack Brock, and Jose Valle smile after the race.

 Above:  Hannah and Eryn, Below:  Kendra and Sarah